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Northeast Ohio nurtures bright minds, big ideas

http://www.nortech.org" class="red">William E. Hagstrand serves as a Senior Consultant for NorTech and is responsible for driving engagement in cluster opportunities from inception to successful completion. This includes identifying and cultivating potential opportunities for participating organizations and recruiting organizations to the advanced energy cluster.

Many of the greatest products and services began as the smallest seedling of an idea. Somewhere along the way that seedling was cultivated by insight, inspiration and hard work allowing it to take shape and grow. Equally important to the success of growing an idea, however, is a community that offers support.
The robust support system that exists in Northeast Ohio includes universities, community colleges and other institutions of learning. I also believe the region's established businesses, entrepreneurs, economic development organizations, philanthropists and investors have a major hand in providing guidance. I think our region truly stands out for the level of support available.
An inspiring aspect of my work is that I get to witness, and help, with some of the initiatives that this community has undertaken to build solid, marketable products and companies.
An example is the talent development programs currently being initiated by Lorain Community College (LCC). The programs are designed to meet the impending workforce demands of high-tech clusters such as advanced energy and flexible electronics. When workforce demands for skilled workers are met, the capabilities of the region increase exponentially. LCC will work in collaboration with a consortium of educational and institutional partners including The University of Akron, Case Western Reserve University, Kent State University, Stark State College, Youngstown State University, Hard Hatted Women and the Ohio Energy Workforce Consortium.
Another cooperative initiative that I'd like to highlight is the Ohio Clean Energy Challenge, taking place Jan. 29th in Columbus. The event brings together 12 teams of Ohio student entrepreneurs, who believe they have developed marketable technologies that can change the way we consume energy. The involvement in this initiative from universities, economic development organizations and the business community is another illustration of the different community pillars coming together to offer guidance:
• Higher education institutions: Northeast Ohio's bright minds are well represented, with teams from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland State University and Malone University.
• Entrepreneurs and business leaders: The competition's judges include entrepreneurial advisers from JumpStart and TechColumbus and business leaders from Ohio-based advanced energy start-ups.
• Economic development organizations: The competition sponsors are NorTechand the University Clean Energy Alliance of Ohio.
A very valuable opportunity that I see with this competition, besides granting the winner award money and the chance to compete at the regional level, is that the students are learning to develop their ideas in the real world, and create marketable products and services rather than just hypothetical widgets in a theoretical world. These same students will go on to create the local companies that will grow and keep jobs in our area, effectively helping to quell the brain drain from Northeast Ohio.
Case in point, the winner of last year's Ohio competition, Design Flux Technologies, LLC, out of the University of Akron, went on to win a $100,000 grant through the Ohio Third Frontier Technology Validation and Startup Fund. Design Flux has commercialized an all-in-one battery management system and is actively preparing to enter the market.
The final piece of evidence that indicates the strength of our business support community is that many of the ideas that take root in Northeast Ohio turn into companies that choose to stay here. This embodies the true spirit and goal of economic development. It takes the collaboration from many parts of the community to achieve that goal.

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